Ah yes, the feel of the
wind in your hair, if you have any. Summer weather is finally upon us and we
now get to drive with the windows down, elbow stuck out of the door, shades on,
music playing, and the beginnings of a quite impressive lopsided exposure to
the brightness of the day. There are a few terms for it but it’s commonly referred
to as a farmer’s, or trucker’s tan. Yes that inconspicuous darker tanned left
arm. No, driving in reverse does not help one bit.
Feeling the sun on my
face while driving with the windows wide open is rather freeing. Not quite as exhilarating
as riding on the open road, but enjoyable all the same. The dog always sticks
his head out of the passenger side window with ears-a-flapping in an effort to
express his own pleasure with the whole thing as well. I would too but, alas, between
the two of us, I’m the one that seems to end up stuck doing all of the driving.
I may need to renegotiate this sometime soon.
I’m always rather surprised,
that on a beautiful day like this, how many people would rather stay
hermetically sealed inside a rolling hotbox with the windows fastened tight as
if there were a storm approaching. The air conditioning on full blast no doubt.
Sometimes I actually look to see if there is some form of condensation or frost
forming in the corner of the windows. It’s there, but you need to look for it.
I mentioned earlier about
the windows being down with the music playing. Many of us do this and I want to
be the first to tell you that it’s alright if people see you jamming out and
hear you singing aloud. Here’s a nickel’s worth of free advice on that. Look
them square in the eye, keep on singing, or continue making your intense rocker
face. You know the face. We all have one. It usually involves the biting of the
lower lip while squinting and scrunching up your nose, all the while bobbing
your head to the beat of the tune. Never break eye contact, never. Either way
you will make their experience unforgettable. Being remembered as the comical rocker
dude or the escaped mental patient makes no nevermind to me.
The one thing that I need
to be clear about is the fact that the music that I play in my vehicle at an
elevated volume, but not overbearing to my fellow motorists, is for my benefit
only and nobody else’s. I have not installed a higher quality sound system just
to inflict some form of unintelligible garbage, with so much bass that the
trunk of the car vibrates, on the unsuspecting passers-by that I encounter on
the street. There is always that one idiot, and a growing number of them. The
only trend in this that I can see is, the louder the music, the worse the taste
in the music. The louder, the shittier is what I mean to say.
When you encounter one of
these creatures, and you will if you haven’t yet, here’s what I do. Let’s call
it another little nugget of advice. This is where I direct you back to a
previous paragraph regarding the singing and or rocker face. Remember? Now this
is where you get to combine the two with a bonus move.
Sing louder while
intensifying the face moves, and then hit them with your air guitar “A” game, all
while starring right at them. They won’t know what just hit them. Having fun
with it sure beats shaking your head in disgust like their parents probably do
regularly.
